South OC Times

Last week, U.S. Representatives Young Kim (CA-40) and Colin Allred (TX-32) introduced the Stopping PRC Environmental Exploitation and Degradation Act (SPEED Act, H.R. 9265) to address the negative environmental, ecological, and public health impacts of investments linked to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Africa.

The PRC has become Africa’s largest trading partner, creditor, and source of foreign direct investment through the Belt and Road Initiative. The PRC’s debt-trap diplomacy, often executed through corporations, can be destructive to local communities and key biodiversity areas.

“The PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative coerces developing nations to fall into Xi Jinping’s debt-trap diplomacy but also exposes vulnerable populations to harmful ecological, environmental, and public health risks,” said Rep. Young Kim, who serves as chairwoman of the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee. “We cannot allow Xi Jinping to get away with growing his global power and violating international environmental and labor laws in the process. I am proud to lead the SPEED Act to counter the Belt and Road Initiative and hold the PRC accountable for its exploitative practices, deliberate environmental degradation, and threat to African communities’ livelihoods.”

“We cannot allow the People’s Republic of China and Chinese-linked companies to continue their exploitation of African nations as they subject their people to harmful ecological and public health risks,” said Rep. Colin Allred. “The bipartisan SPEED Act will strengthen U.S. policy, authorize sanctions and hold the Chinese government accountable for the adverse environmental, ecological, and public health incidents occurring in Africa.”

The SPEED Act aims to counter PRC influence in Africa by:

- Establishing that it is U.S. policy to oppose actions by PRC-linked entities that do not comply with host country or international environmental protection and labor laws in their exploitation of natural resources in Africa;

- Requiring a strategy from the State Department and USAID detailing how the U.S. will work with sub-Saharan African countries to remediate environmental disasters caused by PRC companies;

- Allowing for sanctions on PRC-linked entities responsible for adverse environmental and public health incidents on the African continent.

Read the bill HERE.